Unsettling the Myth of Canadian Nationhood: Hockey and Embodied Indigenous Sovereignties

in Sociology of Sport Journal

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Moss E. NormanSchool of Kinesiology, Faculty of Education, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

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LeAnne PetherickDepartment of Curriculum and Pedagogy, Faculty of Education, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

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Edward (Sonny) AlbertCommunity Liaison, Health Centre of Excellence, Norway House Cree Nation, MB, Canada

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DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1123/ssj.2021-0115
Keywords:
settler colonialism; critical indigenous studies; racism; Keystone Junior Hockey League
First Published Online:
30 Mar 2022
In Print:
Volume 39: Issue 4
Page Range:
323–332
Restricted access

We situate the race-based division of Manitoba’s Keystone Junior Hockey League as a case study to reveal the ongoing processes of settler colonialism. We argue that this split is an example of “White settler possessive logics,” whereby settler belonging is naturalized through reiterative embodied acts of occupation. That this split happened in hockey, which is colloquially referred to as “Canada’s game,” is perhaps unsurprising given that hockey is a significant cultural site where Canadian nationhood is produced. However, we also contend that settler entitlement and belonging are never fully secure, but rather always in the process of (un)becoming. Settler belonging is thus threatened by Indigenous embodied sovereignties, which we argue can be found in the game of hockey generally, and in the Keystone Junior Hockey League specifically.

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